Celia Wignoron walked down the corridor of the infirmary, sighing heavily.
“Ugh…”
It had been a long time since she lost the graceful stride of a high noble.
She stumbled clumsily like a drunkard in broad daylight, but… any kind of walk would do.
Who cared about noble etiquette when she was in such turmoil from her mistake?
‘…I messed up badly.’
Celia imagined the moment she would be scolded in the officers’ research room.
Facing the Platoon Commander and Platoon Vice Commander, she wondered if prey before a predator felt the same.
Even thinking about it now, her arms were shaking.
‘I never thought I would be scolded for 3 hours…’
Evan Peters, the Platoon Commander of 2nd Year 1st Platoon, was well-liked for his gentle nature.
A bright-smiling merchant, he approached recruits with warm words, never showing anger even if they made mistakes.
Instead, he encouraged them, saying they could do better next time.
Because of this, among the recruits, Kyan, the 3rd Platoon Commander, was dubbed a demon, while Evan Peters was called an angel.
But now, for the first time, the kind Platoon Commander was angry with her.
‘I never knew the Platoon Commander could be so terrifying when he’s angry.’
They say when a kind person gets angry, it’s truly scary… Celia finally understood the meaning of those words.
With a twisted expression, Evan relentlessly criticized Celia, who had to stand there and endure the criticism.
There was no excuse. Her mistake was too clear from the start.
Distracted, she abandoned her comrades and rushed ahead, and if it weren’t for Ian, things could have turned out disastrously.
Celia wasn’t one to shy away from her mistakes, and she admitted them all.
‘But thankfully, I didn’t receive any punishment…’
Though she had prepared herself even for the loss of her Squad Commander position.
According to the Platoon Commander, the injured personnel had requested leniency for her.
That was the reason.
‘Now, this is the last one.’
The reason Celia went around apologizing in each room.
After finishing her apologies, Celia left one final visit.
Holding a bouquet of purple hyacinths, she looked at the name written on the door.
‘Ian Volkanov…’
As she repeated his name, an inexplicable pain pierced her heart.
In truth…, half of her reason for visiting was because of Ian.
‘Why is Ian precious to me?’
The memory from that light still vividly remained.
Ian, who threw himself for her in their childhood, and herself shedding tears as she watched him.
Why?
Her grandmother said you could know someone precious through that light. But why did Ian appear in hers?
Then, could it be that Ian was precious to her?
Since the training ended, Celia had questioned herself countless times.
‘I honestly don’t know. But…’
Why Ian and not Ariel?
She couldn’t answer that question. But one thing was certain.
‘I miss Ian…’
Suppressing her troubled heart, Celia stood in front of Ian’s room.
Though she felt embarrassed admitting that she had come because she regretted how much she liked him.
Celia found her own solution.
‘Hah… Get yourself together, Celia. I didn’t come to see Ian because I miss him. I came here as a Wignoron to express gratitude… It’s the duty of a noble to show gratitude if you’ve received help. Yes… that’s it.’
It might be an excuse…, but as long as her heart felt relieved, it didn’t matter.
As her troubled heart settled, a faint smile spread across Celia’s face.
A basket full of purple hyacinths… Ian would surely like it.
He always loved these flowers since childhood. Whenever she looked for him, he was always sitting on the hillside where hyacinths bloomed.
Since the flower’s meaning was ‘I’m sorry’, Celia deliberately chose them.
‘And Ian doesn’t have anyone to visit him. He must be very lonely.’
Since Ian would be alone in the hospital room anyway, she figured she might as well keep him company.
With that thought in mind, Celia gently opened the door.
And there she saw.
‘Huh? P-Princess?’
Erzebeth Arcana, gently stroking the sleeping Ian’s cheek with a sad smile.
‘Why is the princess by Ian’s side, and why is she stroking his face? Why…’
At that moment, Celia’s thoughts came to a halt.
***
Ian believed he had a fair chance against Alex.
‘It’ll be tough, but it’s not entirely impossible.’
If an Expert Intermediate level faced off against a Mana Master saying such things, they’d likely be considered insane… but Ian had his reasons.
‘Even the difficulty was adjusted for me.’
If he had faced Alex in his prime, he would have assumed defeat from the start.
But wasn’t Alex weakened now?
‘At least, the minimum. The very minimum.’
With Neltalion and many other factors at his disposal, he believed he could secure victory if used properly.
However, Alex’s wall was too high.
“Huff… huff…”
– Ian… Let me wipe your sweat… You did well…
His rough breath flowed like an explosion. Ian, sitting on the ground, looked at the image floating in the air.
[You have died. Cause of death: Artery rupture]
[Would you like to retry?]
‘Really strong. He’s not a master just for show.’
Alex’s prowess exceeded imagination.
As befitting one known as the Slayer of Ancient Gods, the first sword of the Empire. He overwhelmed Ian with unmatched swordsmanship.
‘The swordsmanship I’ve seen until now… what was it.’
In fact, while he was confident in facing opponents wielding swords, Alex thoroughly crushed Ian’s confidence.
That he couldn’t keep up with his swordsmanship was something he hadn’t expected.
After all, wasn’t Ian the one who was called the Sword Saint of Ark in the past?
‘Even though there are so many swordsmen around me.’
Ian’s own family, the Volkanov family, were sword masters, and Ariel, the Hero, was a swordsman who was expected to reach mastery soon.
Therefore, he thought he had some understanding of swordsmanship.
But upon seeing Alex’s sword, all those thoughts vanished.
‘It’s incomparable… Alex is just on a different level.’
His sword was both fierce and gentle. There wasn’t a single wasted movement, even in a light swing.
Even a light slash could become the cornerstone for the next move.
‘But what’s even scarier is that his swordsmanship isn’t the end.’
As Ian reflected on his battle with Alex, he gnashed his teeth.
He remembered how Alex, who claimed to fight honorably, resorted to despicable tactics.
Even though enough time had passed, whenever he recalled that moment, anger surged within him.
‘It’s ridiculous to even think about it.’
From the start, he created a mana shield to ignore attacks. Eventually, he even created a barrier that reflected attacks.
Even though he was confident in facing opponents wielding swords alone, adding mana manipulation made it hopeless.
In the end, Ian came to a conclusion.
‘It’s difficult to beat Alex now.’
It was impossible to win against him.
Though it was quite regretful that he couldn’t secure even a single victory… it wasn’t a fight without any gains.
‘But at least I gave him a wound.’
Ian looked at Alex’s cheek.
A small wound where red blood was slowly seeping out.
It was the result of his attack, implementing Thousand Hand with Ether.
With all his might, Ian’s fist shattered Alex’s barrier at the last moment and inflicted a wound on his cheek.
‘Of course, even that was just a glancing blow.’
Still, a defeat with just a wound wasn’t just a loss. Ian decided to be satisfied with that point.
Even though you are an Upper-Intermediate Expert, fighting against a Master enemy and causing significant damage was enough achievement.
After ending the simulation, Ian collapsed onto the bed.
The sky that had been morning when he started had turned into dark night.
As he looked around the quiet hospital room, Ian noticed something placed at the door.
“What’s this? Flowers?”
A basket filled with purple hyacinths… However, the handle seemed bent and seemingly crushed, for some unknown reason.
‘I wonder who left it behind…’
In the end, Ian decided to take the flowers back to his room.
Since they were left at the door, he couldn’t just discard them. If the owner came, he could return them.
Looking at the basket full of hyacinths, Ian slowly drifted off to sleep.
***
In the morning, Ian quickly completed the discharge procedure and headed to Ark.
Originally, he had planned to leave the hospital in the afternoon, but he couldn’t after checking the message on his device.
[There’s something I need to tell you, so come to the smoking area after discharge.]
– Platoon Commander
‘If I had known, I wouldn’t have checked the message late’
Regret flooded in, but it was too late. He had habitually checked the message and had already read it, signaling to the Platoon Commander that he had.
If he didn’t go after seeing it, something terrible might happen.
In the end, Ian had no choice but to swallow his tears and head to Ark.
As he headed to the smoking area, Kyan greeted him as if he had been waiting.
“You’ve been through a lot coming here. Did you rest well?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I spent the day comfortably. According to the priests, there’s nothing wrong with my body.”
After quietly listening, Kyan nodded his head and spoke.
“Thank goodness. Although there was an unfortunate incident, the training went well… Anyway, good job. You did well this time.”
“Thank you.”
Kyan, who was smoking a cigarette, seemed to be trying hard to suppress a smile.
Well… since the 3rd Platoon was selected as the best platoon in this training session, he must have been very pleased as the Platoon Commander.
Being a commoner, he always felt the need to show results.
Ian also aimed for the best platoon for this reason.
Showing an overwhelmingly first place was the best he could do for the Platoon Commander who trusted him.
‘Originally, it would have ended as the best platoon anyway. Thank god.’
Although the plan to fill 5000 points failed due to the interruption of training.
Ark, who praised the victory against the Dullahan, selected Ian’s 3rd Platoon as the best platoon.
Moreover, there weren’t many injured, so Kyan couldn’t help but feel good.
“Anyway, I called you because of what I said last time.”
“If it’s about what you said last time… are you talking about the new squad member?”
At Ian’s inquiry, Kyan nodded lightly as he bit his cigarette.
“We had an officer meeting yesterday. We decided to accept new members into our platoon.”
“I see.”
“I tried to stop it as much as possible because I thought it would be burdensome for you… but unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”
Kyan’s face twitched with a hint of annoyance. Although he tried to endure it, since he had already caused a commotion and passed on the transfer students bomb, there was no way out.
“So, a new member will join your squad. All the information is in these documents, so check them out.”
Saying that, Kyan seemed unusually cautious.
Although he tried to act nonchalant, he must have felt sorry for passing on the burden to Ian.
‘But I’m fine, really.’
It might be burdensome if too many people join. However, currently, there was no one in the 3rd Squad except for Igor.
Furthermore, Igor had already adapted to the atmosphere of the platoon to some extent. Even if new members were to join, there wouldn’t be much burden or anything.
With no worries, Ian received the documents and checked the contents.
As he calmly checked the documents, at some point, Ian’s eyes began to shake as if there was an earthquake.
A woman with blonde hair and a wallflower, and a spirit mage… Up to this point, there was no problem. Although being a spirit mage was a bit concerning, it wasn’t unusual to have such a person in the Empire.
‘Eri Everhart?’
The problem is, she’s a self-made young lady. Of the Everhart family.
To others, it might seem like just another noble, but… Ian knew what kind of family this was.
‘The 1st Princess… It was the Everhart family used as Princess Erzebeth’s false identity…’
The new squad member was a princess who hid her identity… Ian felt his mind go blank.
(Lolz Note: I kinda forgot to ask, but do you guys want to keep Korean honorifics/prefixes/suffixes (Unni, -nim, etc… ) or should I just translate them as normal English?)
